A wall of blue ice five kilometres wide and up to 60 metres high, grinding forward into Lago Argentino. Watch it from the walkways as towers of ice crack and crash into the water, then cross by boat and walk on it in crampons.
Perito Moreno flows down from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field and ends almost against the Magallanes peninsula, so you can stand a few hundred metres from its face, close enough to hear it creak and boom.
The walkways on the peninsula are five kilometres of boardwalk on six levels facing the glacier front; walking all of them takes two to four hours, and the afternoon light is better on the face. Pick a bench and wait: pieces of the front break away every few minutes, some the size of buildings.
To walk on the ice, book a trek. The Minitrekking (ages 8–65) crosses by boat and spends about 90 minutes on the glacier in crampons; Big Ice (ages 18–50) is a longer approach and three and a half hours among crevasses and blue pools on the ice. Both treks need booking days ahead in summer. Whisky on ice chipped from the glacier at the end of both.
A full day from El Calafate, combining the boardwalks with a trek or a boat.
Drive or take a bus west along the lake shore, paying park entry at the gate on the way.
Trekkers board the boat from the port below the walkways and cross to the glacier's southern edge.
Guides fit crampons and lead you over ridges and past crevasses and deep blue meltwater pools.
Walk the circuits at your own pace, with the light now on the face; wait for the front to calve.
Back in El Calafate, finish with flamingos at the Laguna Nimez reserve on the edge of town.
Regular buses run from El Calafate's terminal in the morning and return in the afternoon; hire cars give more time at the walkways.
Minitrekking and Big Ice are run by a single concession; book several days ahead in high season, with hotel pickup included.
Pay the national park fee at the gate; keep the ticket, as it is checked again at the walkways.
Calafate & Chaltén practical notes →Wikimedia Commons photographs are used under their licences; Pexels photographs under the Pexels licence.
.jpg?width=960)
